Today is my birthday. I feel loved everyday, but today I feel extremely loved. We recently got a piano, because Dominic has always wanted to learn to play, and we would love our girls to learn to play. We would love to have our wonderful friend, and local piano teacher named Val Blaha teach our girls, when they are ready. Val was so kind to us, and took time out of her busy schedule one day to take a look at our piano, and give us her opinion, before we purchased it. We had it delivered that day. Dominic absolutely loves it, and has been learning how to play it ever since.

This morning, As I was lying in bed, I heard Happy Birthday being played on our piano. My heart filled with happiness that Dominic had taught himself how to play happy birthday, and surprised me with it. This is the beginning of a lovely birthday tradition. My dear friend Dara in California writes an amazing blog called Coffee and Lilacs. Her most recent post is about traditions. Reading her post reminded me that traditions are created everyday through loving actions and behaviors. I am a member of a Simplicity Parenting group, and we talk frequently about creating traditions. As parents, we long for our children to grow up with fond memories of their childhood, holidays, and a happy home.

As I bake these scones It dawned on me that my baking is creating comforting sensory memories for my girls. Yesterday Marjie came up to me and asked me if she could please have some crisp. I told her we did not have any. She said, “but mama, I smell it”. I was baking my Apple Cinnamon Granola, which smells a lot like apple crisp. I smiled and told her I was baking her and Georgia a special snack for later. Enjoy these scones with some butter and your favorite jam, and create some comforting sensory memories for your family.

This recipe was adapted from Once Upon a Tart, Spiced Pumpkin Scones with Fresh Cranberries.

Cranberry Apple Scones

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Recipe type: Breakfast,Dessert

Author: Jillian

Serves: 12

Ingredients

4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup beet sugar(you can also use cane sugar)

1/2 pound plus 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut in cubes

2 large eggs

3/4 cup cold buttermilk

1 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 heaping cup fresh cranberries, chopped

1/2 cup whole cranberries

1 1/2 cups apples peeled and chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place dry ingredients in food processor

Pulse to combine

Add butter

Pulse til there are no chunks of butter left, do not overwork dough

Remove blade

Dump mixture into large bowl

In another large bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk,vanilla extract, and applesauce, until combined

Stir chopped cranberries and apples into wet mixture

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture

Use wooden spoon or dough spoon to fold we into dry until just combined

Do not overwork dough

Use a 1/2 cup measuring spoon to scoop the dough

Place half cup rustic scoops 2 inches apart on lined sheet tray

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and toothpick clean

Let cool for 5 minutes on sheet tray, then remove scones to eat

Enjoy these right out of the oven with a spread of butter and your favorite jam

Hi Krista, Thank you so much for your birthday wishes. It is a sweet, wonderful new tradition that Dominic has created. Sounds like you have some lovely traditions in your family too. Thank you for reading my blog and taking time to post a comment.